For The Drummers Out There...

[kwame k]

Hey, me too when it comes to riffing. Besides, all of this actual musicianship stuff will be replaced by machines and video games soon anyway...

Must say, it's been fun thinking the shit up and bouncing ideas back and forth, ya know? That stuff will never die.

Free exchange of ideas Craig, I'm all for that! Great riffing with ya

My brother, they'll never replace the natural or acoustic instruments. Yes, the inroads they have made in all electrical instruments is amazing. That fucking Roland V-Pro

That may become my work horse kit, play it anywhere, no worries about being too loud and being able to tweak setting like a guitar amp, plus 100's of presets!!!!! Crank that fucker through a Marshall amp, too bad the V-Drums are still 5 grand new.

They would be great for convenience but like every time they try to emulate acoustic instruments, they never get it quite right.

[chefcraig]

Look, I've been dealing with these "Gizmo-cretins" since around 1976, OK? First it was the guitar wiz-hards that had the latest toys (that weighed about as much as a bag of fertilizer and gave off odd shocks). I'd use my fingers, a Cry-baby wah pedal and volume to get my point across, while these guys were tap-dancing all over the place. I also found out that they had rooms to practice in that had full-length mirrors. And if you asked these self-obsessed dickwads a simple question, they'd either be crankily dismissive or ignore you.

A few years later, a bunch of guys showed up with fashions from the J.C. Penny "young woman's section", wearing make-up from Eckerd drugs and holding some bulky keyboards and jack-plugs. I asked the same questions, and received the same snotty answers.

It took me a few years to piece together the truth. The thing is, if I asked "What key is that in?", these fuckers did not know. The arrogance they maintained was in fact affected, to disguise a fear.

And that fear is what I fail to understand. Crap, I don't know what notes I'm playing a great part of the time. Yet this arrogance is borne of petulance, an intangible insecurity that all non-real "musicians" have. True artists can get together and create, usually by accident. Posers hide behind devices. Artists can create with a pen and paper, or less.

There is a guy named Westerberg that wrote a great line, about "playin' make-up, wearing guitar". How true. How fuckin' true.

[kwame k]

Spot fucking on Craig! I'm really thinking about stripping my kit down to the absolute basics. Bass, snare, floor tom, ride cymbal, hi-hats, and a couple of crashes. replacing the mounted toms with bongos or a djembe, something like that.

[chefcraig]

Spot fucking on Craig! I'm really thinking about stripping my kit down to the absolute basics. Bass, snare, floor tom, ride cymbal, hi-hats, and a couple of crashes. replacing the mounted toms with bongos or a djembe, something like that.

So, experiment, why not? For one thing, you will challenge yourself in ways you did not expect. Remember that cliche' of rolling off the double toms into the crash, one you perhaps relied on from time to time? It's now gone.
How's about playing your snare rudiments on the bass drum, and your bass drum kicks as on the snare?

I'd mentioned a variant on the theme to a guitarist who'd reached a dead end with composition. I suggested he try de-tuning some strings. The hands will develop different chording shapes.

Redefine the parameters.

By taking shit apart, you gain incredible insights. One of these days, I must tell ya my story of playing with a reggae band in the Bahamas. Talk about trading information. By the way, it was me that taught the guys how to play in reggae time. Yup, the tourist rocks a town square. (Hint: We played a bunch of Creedence and Seger tunes first.)

[kwame k]

Oh, I have been all over changing up and transposing one drum for another. Just using your left hand as another bass drum and using the heal to toe bass drum trick there's really no need for two bass drums. Look at Bonham for instance, he could do licks like this..........



The real trick is to keep something steady and in time. That's why keeping time on your right hand helps move a groove along and giving an illusion of constant forward movement. That frees up your left hand for endless possibilities. Think about how many snare hits there are in a 4/4 time signature, that leaves huge gaps rythmacially.

I use a pair of bongos to the left side of my hi-hat. I can hit my snare strikes and yet go over to the bongos, still coming back in time with my snare. I did a mean version of Sympathy For The Devil utilizing that technique.

[kwame k]

Check this cat out.........

[VH Drummer]

They've actually done have that. Never played them and have no idea how they sound but......

I've got both pairs of roto toms. I can match the "1984" sound on the 15"/17" pair but the others are too high pitched for my taste.

I've always wondered how Alex got the roto tom heads onto a regular shell and now it all makes sense, I think I'm going to give that a try. (I never thought I'd say this but) Thanks, Kwame!

[GAR]

A guy who used to work at Dr Music in Pasadena bought Alex's clear-shelled Ludwig octobons for $400. Those are unique-sounding toms.

[VH Drummer]

I tried the roto tom thing today, it didn't work out that well, it looks like the shell in the picture is a half. I was able to put the 14" top on an old snare I have (and removed the wires) and it sounds like a really deep roto tom, I put it on the right of my hi-hat (I'm a lefty).

[kwame k]

I tried the roto tom thing today, it didn't work out that well, it looks like the shell in the picture is a half. I was able to put the 14" top on an old snare I have (and removed the wires) and it sounds like a really deep roto tom, I put it on the right of my hi-hat (I'm a lefty).

Far out man! Did you have to tune the bottom head of the shell real tight to get the resonance to transfer from top to bottom and get that bounce back?

[kwame k]

In the pic I posted that's what they did, mounted on a snare. Wonder how it would sound keeping the snare wires on?

[VH Drummer]

Yup. I used an old Emperor X Black Dot for the bottom but tore off the coating because it was too thick. I've got a Pinstripe on the top, but I'm going to do some more adjusting tomorrow to get the best sound possible.

[Seshmeister]

[kwame k]

Yup. I used an old Emperor X Black Dot for the bottom but tore off the coating because it was too thick. I've got a Pinstripe on the top, but I'm going to do some more adjusting tomorrow to get the best sound possible.

Ever use the Remo Fiberskyns? Used to love those heads, for the snare anyways.

Here's a cool website.
Fiberskyn 3 - Snare Drum Heads

[katie]

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I hear ya on downsizing your set. The most effective guys I know are using an early Bonham-like set-up, consisting of a snare, one tom, a floor tom, a crash, high-hat and ride. Things really got out of hand when people started using double bass drum sets. They just started piling more and more shit on top of them. The invention of the double bass pedal for a single kick was a terrific thing, and makes the double bass kit obsolete. For one thing, you do not need to lug around as much shit, and besides that, unless you are playing ELP, Crimson or early Genesis covers, who needs the damned thing?

In the late 80's / early 90's I used a Double bass set up with 4 on the top / 2 on the floor + loads of cymbals etc.

These days i find less IS more, as I find I am more creative with just a Bonham set up and a twin kick pedal.